


Trials

by FinnofRen



Series: Ambitions [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Character Study, Dark Side Finn, Dark!Finn, Established Relationship, Force Lightning, Force Use, Force-Sensitive Finn, Knight of Ren AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2016-12-22
Packaged: 2018-09-11 05:17:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8955304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FinnofRen/pseuds/FinnofRen
Summary: Seven's training is rapidly approaching it's conclusion and Kylo knows the time has come to test his apprentice. During a mission to stop marauding pirates, Kylo finds that Seven is far more accomplished that even he had suspected.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first Finnlo fic I ever wrote, though obviously not the first one I posted. I wrote it to get a grasp of Kylo and how he work. One thing led to another and it became part one of a series.  
> Thank you to kyloandfinnren, stormsith, finnloren and poplitealqueen for advice, assistance and general encouragements.

The shuttle is silent except for the hum of the consoles, the low whine of the hyperdrive and the subtle hiss from Kylo Ren’s mask every time he draws breath. 

Next to him sits Seven, his apprentice, quietly composed, waiting for them to arrive at their destination. Kylo senses him through the Force, centered and controlled. 

For now. 

Kylo knows Seven’s other side, know it all too well, the one that is passionate, spirited and almost driven. A side that often has threatened to overcome him and one that could one day spell his doom. 

Though Kylo has to admit that he has often enjoyed that more passionate side of Seven when they were in private and not just in matching wits with him. 

Maybe Seven senses part of the path that his master’s thoughts are taking, because Kylo can see a tiny smile form on the young man’s lips. He is the only member of the Knights who refuses a wear a helmet. It has been a source of more than one argument between them, but Seven made his position clear. Unless Kylo Ren made it a direct order he would never wearing a helmet again, he had had his fill as a Stormtrooper. 

Kylo never has made it an order. Though he would never admit it to anyone barely to himself, he enjoys looking at Seven’s expressive face too much, from the lopsided grin when he succeeds in something, over the frowns when he grappled with a difficult issue, to look of intense focus he got when he was on a job. The last was one Kylo knew he’d get to see again soon. 

Though Seven keeps from shifting with impatience, Kylo feels a certain turmoil in his mind. 

“Why don’t you ask what’s on your mind?” he says. 

“It’s…” Seven sighs exasperated. “I don’t get it. Why are we here?” 

“You are aware that the pirates that’s been plaguing this sector have been traced to this system?” 

“Yes, Master. It’s not that. But why send _us_? Why not regular troops? It’s what we- they, are trained for.” 

“The army is too busy at the moment for such a small thing as eliminating a pirate gang. Surely we will suffice.” 

“Yeah, but… two of us? Isn’t that a bit overkill?” Seven grins, but Kylo can feel a tension underneath.  

“Do you think you could take on a whole pirate base alone?” 

Overconfidence is out of character for Seven and it worries Kylo. He knows that there would be an emotional effect in Seven to confronting the Void Runner pirates, but it appears that it may be greater than Kylo had expected. 

Not promising, but there is nothing he can do about it now, his course is set. 

His apprentice grins. “No, but I’m pretty sure you could.” 

“Flattery doesn’t become you.” Kylo does his best to keep his voice cool and professional though he is not certain how well he succeeds. 

Seven’s grin widens. He leans in and speak in a voice too low for their pilot to hear. “That’s not what you said last night.” 

The young man’s tone is husky just as it was last night and Kylo feels himself blush at the memory and it brings further uncertainty to his mind. 

 _Should_ _he_ _postpone_ _this_ _test? If_ _Seven_ _fails_ _-_ Ruthlessly he suppresses the thought, it _must_ be here and now. 

“Keep your mind on the mission, apprentice,” he snaps. 

“Yes, master.” 

Kylo can hear the grin in Seven’s voice, though it is gone from his face. 

“And I heard you offer no objection when I told you we were going.” 

“I wasn’t objecting.” There is a noticeable pause before Seven continues, when he does his voice is tense and laced with an underlying passion. “You know I was leading the troops that discovered _Taalo’s_ _Luck_. I saw what these bastards did to the crew. No master, I have no objections. I was just wondering, that’s all.” 

The system patrol that had discovered the civilian freighter _Taalo’s_ _Luck_ and the fate of its crew, had been Seven’s first mission leading troops on his own. Kylo had seen the look on his apprentice face when he had delivered his report. That was one of the reasons he had volunteered himself and Seven for this mission, much to Hux’s surprise. 

Something this menial would normally be beneath Kylo’s attention, but when he had learned of Seven’s reaction to the fate of the crew of _Taalo’s_ _Luck_ he had know that the Force had presented him with an opportunity to put his apprentice through a test that was possibly overdue. 

Seven passion is his strength, but it is also his greatest weakness. Apart from the obvious risks at letting his heart run off with him Kylo knows he will need to calm that passion if he is to succeed as a Knight of Ren. To use the Force as fully as they do giving in to spur of the moment impulses cannot be. So Kylo chose this mission to make it a test for Seven though his apprentice doesn’t know it, to see if he can tame his passion and function as a knight. 

A test is by its nature uncertain in it outcome, but Kylo has high hopes for his apprentice and lover, as he has hopes for their mutual future. 

His musings are interrupted by a changed in pitch of the engines as the ship left hyperspace and the sublight engines took over. 

“Sirs, we have arrived,” comes the the message from the cockpit. 

Hidden behind his helmet Kylo can’t help rolling his eyes. This is the one thing that Kylo perhaps hates most about having to work with the military arm of the First Order, this incessant need to state the obvious. Combined with far too many officers’ stickling for protocol and his temper often found itself past its breaking point. Thankfully that stickling was something Seven had not taken with him. 

Kylo turns to his apprentice. 

“Find them,” he orders. 

Seven blinks. He obviously did not expect his master to push him to the forefront, but he accepts the order and adapts in a second. 

Rising from his seat Seven goes to the cockpit. 

He studies the readout of the unnamed system in silence, arms folded across his chest, a frown of concentration on his face, then abruptly he nods and turns to their pilot. Kylo feels no change in the Force and wonders what Seven plans. 

“Change the message of the emergency beacon to say ‘Freighter _Black_ _Wave_. Hyperdrive damaged. Cannot leave system. Immediate assistance required.’ Do _not_ activate it. Drop it near the sixth planet and move the ship behind the moons of the fifth. Once in position, start a low power scan of the asteroid belt.” 

“That is… highly irregular, sir.” The pilot’s voice shakes a bit as he offers his protest, but still he perseveres. It seems the stickling for protocol is travelling down the ranks 

Kylo feels his temper flare, but Seven merely stares at the pilot waiting for him to follow orders. After a moment the pilot complies. 

“Beacon dropped, sir. Moving the ship behind the moons.” 

“Tell me when something shows on the scans,” Seven orders.'Through it all Kylo remains just outside the cockpit, a silent, ominous figure. His presences is clearly making the pilot feel anxious, if Seven feels disturbed he hides all traces of it. 

Minutes tick by with no change and finally Kylo’s patience wears out. 

“Seven,” he says, a note of warning in his voice. 

Seven answers without removing his eyes from the scanner. “Give it time, they’ll take the bait. They’re going to be paranoid, pirates are paranoid as a matter of course, so they won’t come straight out of their hidey hole, but _Black_ _Wave_ is a price they won’t be able to resist. Not if it’s landed itself right in their lap.” 

“Because?” 

Seven finally looks at Kylo over his shoulder, wearing that familiar lop sided grin. 

“Because _Black_ _Wave_ is a very special kind of freighter. That’s one of those things you learn as a Stormtrooper. I’ll tell you about it when we get home.” 

Seven turns his attention back to the scanner leaving Kylo free to study the young man unobserved. 

His wide shoulders and broad chest are accentuated by the battle armor that the Knights wears, making him look even more build than he was if that was possible. He always forgoes a cloak in the name of maneuverability, so his muscular legs are in plain view. Kylo didn’t have to see Seven’s face, he knew it well in all its expressiveness, with its dark eyes and full, soft lips. What those lips felt like, pressed against his own. 

But it wasn’t his physical attractiveness, nor even his strength in the Force, that drew Kylo Ren so inexorably to Seven from the moment he first saw him. Rather it was his behavior. 

No other Knight would have denied Kylo Ren a full, detailed answer to his question, but Seven offers only what he wants and thinks necessary. It often leaves him a mystery to Kylo and he never could resist a puzzle. 

Nor is he ashamed of his past. Those of the Knights who had begun their life among the common troops often went to ridiculous length to erase that fact. Seven not only doesn’t deny it he displays it every day, through knowledge and skill he has acquired while with them that he puts proudly on display, and above all through the name he had chosen for himself, a derivative of his old designation. 

Kylo has always found it refreshing, an… honesty that many of his knights seems to lack and it makes Seven feel grounded in a way that the others did not, that even Kylo himself on occasions feels he lacks. Perhaps this is what gives Seven the foundation that he stands on when he argues with Kylo, something that is a regular occurrence, though it is never without cause that he does so. Despite him being Kylo’s apprentice it makes him an equal to his master in ways that none of the other knights are. 

There are times when Kylo wonders if and how much the others resent this. Seven has never said anything or offered complaint if they bother him about it and when Kylo is near they are always respectful. But then Seven has always preferred to stand on his own two feet and not use his relationship with Kylo as a shield. Deep down though there are times where Kylo secretly wishes that Seven wouldn’t do that, or would confide in him more than he does. Another mystery side to his lover and one that leaves him uncertain of what their relationship is founded on for Seven: A simple master and apprentice relationship that has taken on a carnal nature? Or is there something more? And in either case will it survive when Seven inevitably reaches the day where he is Kylo’s apprentice no longer, or will Seven be happy to abandon it when he progresses? 

Kylo hopes that there is more to it than just lust and convenience from Seven sides. He could use someone like him for his future plans and he enjoys Seven’s company. More than enjoy if he is going to be completely honest with himself. 

“There.” Seven’s voice interrupts Kylo’s thoughts. “There they are.” 

Kylo steps fully into the cockpit and peers over Seven’s shoulder. Half a dozen tiny pinpricks on the scanner’s screen are moving at great speed from the asteroid belt towards where they left the beacon. 

“Head for the large asteroid as the southwestern edge of the belt,” Seven orders the pilot. “That was where they came from. You should be able to find the entry to the base when we get there.” 

Turning, the younger man walks past Kylo towards the back of the shuttle. 

“Do you have a plan?” Kylo asks as he follows. 

“Yeah, hit them fast and hard.” 

“And their defenses?” 

The smile on Seven’s face is one Kylo have never seen before, it’s hard edged and a little terrifying. He sense a shift in the Force, as the placid current that previously ran through Seven begins to churn. The storm has come, now the test begins in earnest. 

“You know this shuttle is EMP resistant?” Seven asks in an idle tone. 

Before Kylo can inquire why that is relevant the pilot’s voice calls out over the communication relay. 

“I have located the entrance to the pirate base. Shall I continue?” 

Seven doesn’t reply immediately, instead Kylo watches as his apprentice fiddles with the weapon’s console before answering. 

“Yes, please continue. Full speed ahead.” 

“Erm, I may need to slow us if I’m to land inside the base, sir.” 

Seven sighs. 

“Greatest speed possible. And don’t slow us until you absolutely have to.” 

The Force around Seven shifts again, the broiling currents are pulled in, focused, becoming a vortex. Kylo too reaches out in the Force and briefly wonders how Seven senses him as he feels it course through his body. 

Seven’s gloved hand presses down a button and an instant later Kylo feels an explosion rock the shuttle. 

“Maintain course.” Seven’s voice is completely calm, so at odds with the swirling power he presents in the Force. 

He strides to the landing ramp and positions his gloved hand over the controls. Then he turns to Kylo. “The EMP device will have shut the blast doors behind us, effectively sealing the base for immediate exit or entry. Leaving us only the current residents to deal with. Ready for a fight?” 

“Indeed.” 

Seven hits the controls before the shuttle hits the ground. The ramp lowers and the howling winds grabs Kylo’s cloak tossing it about. The pressure from the air currents almost knocks him down and he reaches out in the Force to stabilize himself. 

Seven is down the ramp in a straight run, scarlet-bladed lightsaber thrumming in his hand, Kylo one step behind him. They land on the floor of the landing bay with a resonating thump. A few steps away stands two pirates looking utterly baffled. 

Seven strides up to them. 

“One chance. Surrender now.” 

Both pirates reaches for their blaster, neither gets anywhere close before Seven cuts them down. 

Across the hangar a trio of thugs have got their hands on their weapons. Kylo bears down on them, effortlessly deflecting each shot they send at him. Unlike Seven he offers them no chance of surrender. 

“Lock the shuttle and raise the shields. If the others return and get through the blastdoors, leave,” Kylo hears Seven order their pilot before coming up to him. 

“Is that wise?” 

“If we need alternate means of leaving this hangar has plenty. There’s no need to risk a soldier or materiel needlessly,” Seven replies casually while he scans the hangar. 

“Only one entrance further into the base,” he continues, nodding towards an opening in the rock. “Do you take point or should I?” he asks. 

“You have led thus far.” 

“Yeah, but you only charged me with _finding_ the base. We’re here now.” 

“Please continue.” 

Seven accepts the order with a nod and heads towards the entrance without a backwards glance. Kylo can still feel the Force swirl inside his apprentice, fed by the storm of his emotions and vortex that still feels untamed. 

Kylo follows as a menacing, looming shadow, constantly four steps behind Seven. 

The short corridor opens up into a large cavern. Throughout it have been build bunkers and other small building making to look like an underground village. 

“Bigger than expected,” Seven comments. 

“Problem?” 

“Not really.” He quickly surveys the cave. “Right, split up. Meet on the other side?” 

“You find this a valid strategy?” Kylo asks. It is very unlike Seven to be this rash, usually his strategies are more carefully thought out and meant to protect the team. Kylo fears that the storm in Seven’s heart has carried him off beyond help. 

Seven grins. “Reach out in the Force, there aren’t that many here. It’s a much smaller band than I expected from the… damage they’ve caused.” The grins falls away and Seven’s tone becomes hard as he speaks. “It’s no more than we can handle.” 

Kylo nods, acquiescing. 

This is Seven’s test, Kylo can do nothing to interfere with his choices though his heart feels like it is stuck in his throat. Instead he continues on a practical note. “One more question. What will you do if some of them do accept your offer of surrender?” 

Seven looks away briefly before he answers and Kylo senses a hesitance in him that disappears quickly. “I don’t really see that happening, do you?” he says, a sharp note in his voice. The he smiles that lopsided grin of his that always makes Kylo’s pulse race just a little faster. “I don’t hear you even offering them the _possibility_ though.” 

Kylo tilts his head in acknowledgement. 

“Left or right?” Seven asks him. 

“Right.” There seems little difference. 

With a nod Seven heads left, the lightsaber in his hand painting him in red. 

Kylo has a hundred admonitions and advices, but he swallows them all. Seven _must_ face this test on his own he reminds himself for which time he cannot remember. His apprentice will succeed or fail on his own, such is the way of the Knights of Ren. 

Still Kylo cannot deny the desire to follow and protect him. Capable though he knows Seven is, there is much emotion in the young man and this bout of recklessness hints at how hotheaded it can make him. 

Ruthlessly Kylo quash the impulse - if it is _too_ much then Seven will fail and so _be_ _it_ \- then fiercely suppressed their bond. Seven is now truly on his own. 

A moment longer Kylo lingers in place, then he turns and heads off in his own direction. 

   
~~~~~~ 

 

He encounters little resistance and nothing beyond his abilities, the half dozen fights - if such they can even be called - are all over before they begin. But perhaps Seven has bit off more than he can chew, for Kylo arrives at the other side with his apprentice no where in sight. He almost reaches for him through their bond, but admonishes himself for the impulse. Seven has had ample time and opportunity to learn, now that skill and control must be applied. 

To distract himself from his dangerous thoughts Kylo turns to the building at the apex of the cavern. It is a bunker, much larger than the others, though still hardly something anyone would call a proper dwelling. 

There is no reason to wait, and doing so may lead his thoughts stray again, so Kylo walks up to the door. A quick, power burst of the Force knocks the door in, allowing him entry. 

The interior looks like a storage room, crates and sacks litters the floor, and the shelves that lines the wall are overflowing. It appears he’s found where they kept the majority of their ill-gotten gains. Hux’s troops can do the tedious chore of gathering the spoils once he and Seven are done clearing up here. 

With a mental shrug Kylo enters to take a fuller survey, he knows what a stickler for details Hux is and it is often easier and far more painless to simply provide them so he will go away. 

Five steps inside a warning flashes through the Force before a blast tears through the room bringing half of the building down. Without the warning it would have killed him, as it is Kylo merely finds himself knocked to the ground, half buried in rubble, his head spinning and his ears ringing from the noise. 

“So,” a rough voice comes from above his prostate form. 

Kylo raises his head and sees a human male, dressed like a common mercenary approach him, blaster rifle firmly gripped in his hands. 

 _Their_ _leader_ _? He looks_ _better_ _dressed_ _than_ _the rest,_ _though_ _only_ _marginally_ _so. Irrelevant._  

“The First Order sent their main bogeyman, Kylo Ren, to deal with us? I suppose I should be honored. Except you’re not so intimidating right now are you? Down there you’re no different from the rest of us.” 

If he could only focus, gather the Force to him, the man with the rifle would be no threat to him. But the pain in his ribs is excruciating, probably several broke when the ceiling came down on him, and his head won’t stop spinning, making focusing near impossible. 

 _Keep_ _him_ _talking_. He can almost hear Seven’s voice in his head - _or is it_ _really_ _him_ _?_ _Has he_ _found_ _a_ _way_ _to_ _circumvent_ _the_ _closed_ _bond_ _?_ \- either way the suggestion is good. 

“And yet here _you_ are,” he says with as much disdain in his voice as he can muster. “Clutching that blaster, fear in your heart. I don’t need the Force to sense it, it’s pouring off you. 

“The Force? Old wive’s tales,”  the other man scoffs as he raises the rifle. 

Then he is jerked off the floor, into the air and with a loud crack his neck snaps. 

“You should have listened to those old ladies,” Kylo hears Seven’s steely voice from far above. He must be at the hole in the ceiling, but from his prone position it’s impossible to see. The his boots come into view as they and he land with a loud thud on the floor. 

“I can’t leave you alone for five minutes can I?” Seven’s voice sounds irate, but Kylo senses his worry even without the bond open. 

“I thought you might have run into trouble when I arrive at the halfway mark before you. You are not usually so tardy,” Kylo says crisply. 

“No, I’m just more careful about not walking into traps.” 

The rubble around Kylo’s lower half starts to shift away, leaving him room to wiggle out. Tears of pain forms in his eyes as he does, he definitely have broken more than one rib. 

Seven helps him stand upright, but the pain is so intense that for a moment Kylo fears he’ll pass out. 

“Your helmet is badly dented. Did your head get hit?” 

“The room keeps spinning.” 

Seven reaches out for the release clasp and eases the helmet off Kylo. 

“Sith spit!” the young man swears 

“That bad?” Kylo realizes that wetness is running down his cheek, he must be bleeding. 

“Head wounds always bleed like a gundark. Let me have a closer look.” 

Careful fingers probes his temple and he feels a small thrill in the Force as Seven reaches out with it. 

“Surface,” Seven concludes. “But maybe you have a mild concussion.” He shakes his head. “Don’t think there are any more pirates around in this place, let’s get out of here.” 

Kylo leans heavily on Seven as they make their way across the rubble and through the hole in the wall made by the explosion. The world keeps going off kilter for him and the pain in his ribs is a constant jabbing that leaves him breathless, and without Seven he knows he would not have been able to stand. Even so he isn’t sure how they manage to make it to the hangar. 

Their shuttle is gone when they get there, but that doesn’t mean the hangar is empty. Quite the opposite, more than two dozen pirates have gathered, weapons drawn and ready to fire on them. 

Kylo straightens, taking his weight of Seven and reaches for his lightsaber. 

“Don’t.” Seven’s voice is low, yet carries well in the large room. 

Kylo isn’t certain if his apprentice is addressing him, the pirates or both, but he feels the storm in Seven surge even higher than it has been. 

The telltale whine of blasters just before they are fired fills the hangar, Seven steps forward in that split second and raises his empty hand towards the pirates. The smell of ozone fills the air as lightning springs from Seven fingertips, one bolt hitting each of the pirates squarely, striking them dead. 

Kylo blinks once. 

While the ability to create lightning is not as some assume confined to the Sith teachings it is a taxing and difficult ability to master, much less execute with such precision as Seven just had. And the ability to make it is certainly not something Kylo has taught him nor does he have any idea where Seven has learned it. It is a dangerous skill that will consume its wielder unless they have supreme control of themselves and the Force. 

As abruptly as the storm in Seven rose before they landed it now subsides, leaving a young man dressed in black battle gear in the place where the warrior just stood. 

“It’s over,” he says, seemingly addressing no one in particular, then he turns and looks at Kylo. “Let’s get you on board and get back.” He nods towards one of the pirates’ crafts. 

The interior of the vessel is cleaner than Kylo had assumed it would be and the chair Seven lowers him into feels softer than he thought possible. 

“Hmmm. I’d normally prefer to strap you in, you look like you could fall over any moment, but with the state of your ribs I think we’ll have to refrain. Can you remain upright while I take us out and into hyperspace?” 

“I think I’ll manage,” Kylo says crisply. 

“I suppose we’ll see about that.” 

Seven heads to the cockpit. Kylo leans back into the chair and closes his eyes as he hears the impulse engines kick in. 

There is much he needs to consider though his head won’t stop spinning and keeping his thoughts together is difficult. 

The control that Seven just displayed in summoning and controlling a highly difficult ability implies, more than implies, a mastery of the Force and of himself far beyond what Kylo had thought Seven possessed. Something far beyond the ability of an apprentice. Seven has not passed his test, he has excelled and Kylo knows what must come next. 

A strange sadness wells up in him as the world about him fades and he slips into unconsciousness. 

   
 

The next he knows he’s on a bed, the telltale sound of the monitors in medbay filling his ears. There is no wetness on his face, his ribs no longer hurts and he is no longer dizzy. He must have been here for a while. 

He opens his eyes and looks around, finding as he expected one of the private room in Starkiller’s med bay. To the left is a great panorama window, giving view of the ice covered vista beyond it. Seven stands in-front of it looking out, but turns the moment Kylo lies eyes on him. 

“You’re finally awake,” the young man says a note of relief in his voice as he goes to Kylo’s bed and sits down on the edge. He reaches out and runs his fingers through Kylo’s hair. “You had me worried for a while. I came back to find you collapsed in that chair, I thought I’d lose you.” 

Kylo closes his eyes for a second to compose himself. Part of him wishes he had been alone, that he would not have to deal with Seven just yet. 

“I am difficult to kill as many have found.” 

Seven chuckles. 

“You certainly are that. And hard headed,” he snorts, then he sighs heavily. “I suppose I should leave, give you space to recover in peace. I just wanted to be here when you woke,” he continues as he gets to his feet again. 

It is tempting to simply let Seven leave, to not address the issue of the test right at this moment. But if not now, when? 

Kylo cannot keep from questioning himself if he has subconsciously held Seven back, refrained from making the necessary test, to make certain that the young man stayed with him. Even now the thought of losing Seven chills him to the bone. 

“Kylo, is something wrong? Should I get someone?” The worry is plain in Seven’s voice. 

Kylo swallows and steels himself. 

“No, nothing is wrong. But I believe congratulations are in order.” He keeps his voice tightly controlled, though he can hear the strain underneath it. 

“For what?” Seven's brow furrows in confusion. 

“You are a full Knight of Ren. You surpassed any and all expectation during the test and displayed not only command and competency in the field but a control of the Force only a true Knight of Ren can manage.” 

Seven blinks, twice. 

“Wait, this- this was all a test?” 

“The mission was real enough, but it was also a test. You knew this day would come, Seven, where you would be tested.” 

“I assumed I would have some advance warning.” There is a cold note in Seven’s voice now. 

Kylo waves his hand at Seven’s words, not quite knowing what to say. This had not after all been meant as his final test and Kylo _had_ intended to speak to him before that time, but that was not how events had played out. 

The silence drags on, Seven simply staring at him. 

“So,” he finally says. “This is it? I’m a Knight, just like that?” 

“Your abilities have proven to be extraordinary, I see no reason to prolong the process.” 

Seven nods just once, then straightens up in an ‘at ease’ posture. 

“Okay,” he says, his voice gone cold. “I understand. I shall leave you in peace then. I’ll inform the medical staff that you’re awake. My lord,” he ends his speech and bows formally, before he snaps around on his heel and walks out. 

Kylo swallows hard. The closing of the door behind Seven feels like it has robbed him of his breath. 

The sun shines cheerfully through the window, but room suddenly feels very cold and empty as if Seven had taken every ounce of warmth in the world with him. 


End file.
